Category Archives: Technology

Roughly a month ago I wrote about a great TV show called Black Mirror. Now a while back we discovered another extremely intriguing series called Westworld. It differs from Black Mirror in a sense that all the episodes are a part of a continues timeline but it’s without a doubt not less fascinating. I just love when a movie, book or a TV series makes you think about a bigger picture. Makes you question deep, perhaps unanswerable questions bigger than the show or the book itself. Westworld is definitely one of these. So far there has been one series with the second one starting in April this year. After each episode you get more and more drawn into the future world it represents and the questions it proposes. You just can’t wait to watch the next part and in our case we watched the whole series within a matter of days. Besides the bigger picture that it represents there are several different plot lines going on leaving you wondering about how they will end and how do they all fit together. It’s really complex, yet in the end it all makes sense. Sort of :). I’m definitely not the only one who got my thinking activated by this show since YouTube and the whole internet is full of articles and videos explaining or guessing what was the whole idea of the show and how it will continue in series 2. Be warned not to read/watch them before you have seen all the episodes since most contain spoilers and you don’t want to mess up your experience. Although I believe they don’t make much sense if you haven’t seen the show yourself :). Either way if you’re interested in AI, the mystery of consciousness, technology and a great piece of magnificent acting and a thrilling plot line, I strongly recommend you to go and check it out!

I’m a true believer in constant development and self-education. The world around us is just so huge, filled with most interesting and bizarre things. Thanks to the invention of internet basically all the data and any information that you’ll ever need is just a few clicks away. There are numerous articles, movies, audios and much more hidden in the vastness of the world wide web. One of the most popular sites is definitely YouTube which is once again filled with countless videos and channels. Today I’m going to point out 3 different channels that, if you are fascinated by everything around and inside us, provide some exhaustion to the never-ending fire of learning. I’ve been following Ted-Ed and Kurzgesagt for years and recently I also discovered the sublimely delivered “It’s okay to be smart”. Sometimes I get a bit too carried away and watch dozens of videos in a row. It’s really a very useful way of spending time compared to many other things but the downside is that by the time you’re at the 5th clip you don’t remember what the 1st one was about :). So I recommend watching a few videos at once and then watching them one more time to really collect all the new information learned. Go and see for yourself! And don’t forget to subscribe!

I must admit that I really don’t watch much TV shows. Most likely I can count the shows I’ve seen in past 10 years with the fingers of my hands. But since I’m really interested in all the new technology advancements that are already changing and are going to change our everyday lives one show caught my attention and now I can honestly say that it’s definitely one of the best I’ve seen. It’s called Black Mirror (IMDB link) and so far 4 seasons have been made. It’s described as “An anthology series exploring a twisted, high-tech world where humanity’s greatest innovations and darkest instincts collide.” Each episode contains a separate story about how technology affects our lives and sometimes brings out the darker sides of us. Some episodes are good and some are just sublime! Most of all they are all intriguing so after you’ve watched one it’s guaranteed that you’ll find yourself thinking about how you may have acted and how the real world would look like if it would be as in the show. I must warn you that some of the episodes are really straight on and can even be slightly disturbing but it all adds to the effect. Since today’s technology is advancing so rapidly it’s quite difficult to imagine how our world looks like in 10, 20, 30 years from now but the directors of this show have definitely done a good job and given us a lot to think about. Go and check it out :)!

A while ago we were visiting our friends and they proposed we should play AirConsole. I had no idea back then what it was but I’m glad that they introduced us to this game :). Thea idea is very simple – laptop/TV or something similar is the screen and your smartphone is the controller. All you basically need is an internet browser. There’s quite wide selection of different games which acquire teamwork, knowing each other or are just plain fun. Be warned, some of the games can be quite addictive :)! To use it just visit https://www.airconsole.com/ and press start. You will be prompted with 6 digit code which you can insert to your phone to join the session. For more comfortable usage I would recommend installing an app to your smartphone although you can just use the browser. Different games can be played from 1 up to 8 people. The only minus is that in free version a lot of choices are limited and you will get commercials in between. In order to avoid it one of the players (not all, only one) will have to purchase the Hero version which is 3 dollars a month + there are free trials. In that way all the other players in the session will also get a commercial free experience. Go and try for yourself :)!

Yesterday I visited a place called Baasjaam (www.baasjaam.ee) which is a virtual reality center opened roughly half a year ago in Tallinn. Throughout the last years when VR has grown more and more popular I’ve had my change to try out some VR games at different events. For some reason I’ve always been drawn to this kind of technology, probably just because what this can offer to us. It’s just not about the games but the usage is much more wider. For example this technology has reached healthcare, education, space exploration, crime investigation and so much more. I personally are very anxious to see what happens in the next 10 years but yet again I hope that we manage to implement this in our lives with a sense of reason and the real human contact wont disappear. Slippery slope… I know.

But at Baasjaam you can use the VR set for half on hour or an hour for a reasonable price and try out quite a big number of different games and experiences. The staff is very friendly and they have VR stations both for sitting and standing up. In addition they have a special party room where you can hold your birthday or company party for example.

One thing that they sadly don’t have is a full VR harness. I managed to try it once at Escape Room, Lootsi 8 in Tallinn and it gives in some way a more authentic experience because all of your senses are “deceived”.

If you don’t have any contact with this at all then I would recommend to go and just try it out for once. It’s not for everyone and the quality is currently not as good as it can be but it’s still an experience.

Leave your comments below about what you think of this VR revolution that’s slowly starting to effect our everyday lives.

If some new technologies can bring as much bad as good here are 2 that will definitely find a place in our world. The biggest problem with these kind of new things is the cost and therefore availability for bigger audience. If that issue can be solved then there could a lot of good things coming. I especially like the idea of Gravitylight. It might not mean much to people living in the modern world but there are millions of people for who this can literally be a lifesaver.

I’ve always been fascinated about the new technologies that are slowly or in some cases rather quickly being integrated into our lives. I believe that there are always 2 sides to each story. From one side it’s great that there are a lot of new technologies that help us every day and offer us experiences that we couldn’t even dream about 10 years ago. But from other perspective it’s quite terrifying to think about what will happen with that true real human experience and human connection in the midst of this technology age. We’ll just have to wait and see how it goes. I really hope that we manage to combine the best parts from both of the worlds.

Here’s one example of technology that you can already buy. And actually these kind of things don’t even have to be outside of your body anymore…